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Movies / On DVD / Stranger Than Fiction
Stranger Than Fiction

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Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

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Reviews Counted:165

Fresh:119

Rotten:46

Average Rating:6.8/10

Consensus: A fun, whimsical tale about about an office drone trying to save his life from his narrator. The cast obviously is having a blast with the script, but Stranger Than Fiction's tidy lessons make this metaphysical movie feel like Charlie Kaufman-lite.

Rated: 12A [See Full Rating] for some disturbing images, sexuality, brief language and nudity.

Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release:01-12-2006

Synopsis: One morning, a seemingly average and generally solitary IRS agent named Harold Crick begins to hear a female voice narrating his every action, thought and feeling in alarmingly precise detail.... One morning, a seemingly average and generally solitary IRS agent named Harold Crick begins to hear a female voice narrating his every action, thought and feeling in alarmingly precise detail. Harold's carefully controlled life is turned upside down by this narration only he can hear, and when the voice declares that Harold Crick is facing imminent death, he realizes he must find out who is writing his story and persuade her to change the ending. The voice in Harold's head turns out to be the once celebrated, but now nearly forgotten, novelist Karen "Kay" Eiffel (Emma Thompson), who is struggling to find an ending for what might be her best book. Her only remaining challenge is to figure out a way to kill her main character, but little does she know that Harold Crick is alive and well and inexplicably aware of her words and her plans for him. To make matters worse, Kay's publisher has dispatched a hard-nosed "assistant," Penny Escher (Queen Latifah), to force Kay to finish her novel and finish off Harold Crick. Desperate to take control of his destiny and avoid an untimely demise, Harold seeks help from a literary theorist named Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), who suggests that Harold might be able to change his fate by turning his story from a tragedy into a comedy. Professor Hilbert suggests that Harold try to follow one of comedy's most elemental formulas: a love story between two people who hate each other. His suggestion leads Harold to initiate an unlikely romance with a free-spirited baker named Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal). As Harold experiences true love and true life for the first time, he becomes convinced that he has escaped his fate, as his story seems to be taking on all the trappings of a comedy in which he will not, and cannot, die. But Harold is unaware that in a Karen Eiffel tragedy, the lead characters always die at exactly the moment when they have the most to live for. Harold and Kay find themselves in unexplored territory as each must weigh the value of a single human existence against what might just be an immortal work of art: a novel about life and death -- and taxes. --© Sony Pictures [More]

Starring: Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman

Starring: Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Tony Hale, Queen Latifah, Kristin Chenoweth

Director: Marc Forster

Director: Marc Forster
Producer: Lindsay Doran, Aubrey Henderson, Jim Miller, Brittany Daniel
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment

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Reviews for Stranger Than Fiction

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41 - 60 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Arguably one of Ferrell's finest two hours on film,

Full Review Source: Spectrum (St. George, Utah) | comment Comment
11/21/06
Bruce Bennett
Bruce Bennett
Spectrum (St. George, Utah)

Ultimately it's about fully embracing life rather than staying locked in our habits and comfort zones, hardly a new moral to the story in the history of cinema, but Stranger Than Fiction brings vitality to the shopworn message.

Full Review Source: Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema | comment Comment
11/21/06
Mark Pfeiffer
Mark Pfeiffer
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema

Such a featherweight nothing that it engenders only indifference.

Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | comment Comment
11/19/06
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness

Everyone can handle sitcom and they do.

Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment Comment
11/18/06
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette

...a Charlie Kaufman movie with actual characters and a storyline worth following.

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
11/18/06
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

Awfully good stuff...

Full Review Source: Entertainment Insiders | comment Comment
11/18/06
Jonathan W. Hickman
Jonathan W. Hickman
Entertainment Insiders

This is Will Ferrell's Being John Malkovich or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but not as good as either of those other comedies of the mind.

Full Review Source: Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA) | comment Comment
11/17/06
John Wirt
John Wirt
Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)

Who hasn't imagined that they're a main character in a book or movie? Perhaps it is this manic egocentric nature of my personality that made me fall in love with the film.

Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | comment Comment
11/17/06
Kevin Carr
Kevin Carr
7M Pictures

Smarter than the usual comedy and the romance is more powerful than one would expect from a romantic comedy.

Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | comment Comment
11/15/06
Robert Roten
Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope

A backhanded compliment to call it the first real disappointment of the season.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
11/15/06
Walter Chaw
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central

A film well worth seeing and savoring.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
11/15/06
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer

Beautifully written (the passages from Eiffel's book are stunningly good), acted and directed, there's not a false note in Stranger Than Fiction.

Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | comment Comment
11/15/06
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

This bland and energyless production stars Will Ferrell, who sleepwalks through his part with the same stoic expression. It's a performance almost guaranteed to induce slumber.

Full Review Source: Internet Reviews | comment Comment
11/14/06
Steve Rhodes
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews

Finally, a Charlie Kaufman movie for people who are too stupid to understand Charlie Kaufman movies.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Weekly | comment 12 Comments
11/14/06
Sean Burns
Sean Burns
Philadelphia Weekly

It's the kind of middlebrow film that pretends it's arty and thinks it's so smart.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
11/14/06
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

You could imagine Stranger than Fiction as a repeat of The Truman Show as adapted by Adaptation author Charlie Kaufman. Early on, Harold's story clicks. But Zach Helm's script reaches The End before Harold reaches his.

Full Review Source: Boulder Weekly | comment Comment
11/14/06
Thomas Delapa
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly

The progress Harold makes in this unconventional romance is the peak of Stranger than Fiction.

Full Review Source: Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia) | comment Comment
11/13/06
Mark Palermo
Mark Palermo
Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

It's a clever script with some very sweet moments, and an inspiring message. I liked it!

Full Review Source: Hollywood Report Card | comment Comment
11/13/06
Ross Anthony
Ross Anthony
Hollywood Report Card

There may have been some room for improvement, but the movie still has a lot of things to recommend it. Stranger Than Fiction is funny and poignant at the same time.

Full Review Source: Aisle Seat | comment Comment
11/12/06
Mike McGranaghan
Mike McGranaghan
Aisle Seat

Until this unsatisfying ending, however, the movie flows exactly right.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
11/12/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
 
 
41 - 60 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
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